Two at once for customer Flint Group

Flint Group has brought its central European SAP system up to the latest state of the art, while at the same time migrating its entire data basis to Unicode. BASF IT Services was responsible for technical migration of the IT systems as the main cooperation partner.

Using the international standard Unicode, the worldwide printing and packaging industry company's SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system can now represent the character sets used with any of the world's languages.

Flint Group has worked together with BASF IT Services for several years. Since the creation of Flint Group in the consolidation of three companies in 2005, the IT service provider has completely redesigned Flint's European corporate network, integrating various IT systems and setting up uniform e-mail and Internet platforms operated in the BASF IT Services data center.

BASF IT Services joined forces with a Flint Group project team in almost nine months of preparations for the completion of the release change migrating the software to the latest version simultaneously with the implementation of Unicode. As a result, more than 1,000 SAP users of the business-critical SAP system for the areas Finance, Logistics, Materials Management and Production Control were able to use the system again after only a single weekend.

The newly introduced Unicode standard defines a unique digital code for each written character used in the system, regardless of the program, platform or language. In doing so, Unicode eliminates differing and incompatible coding in various countries and cultural areas. One example: If a company employee enters an SAP document using Chinese characters, this document can now easily be displayed with the same characters and printed out in Germany.

"We are very satisfied with the results. It was our objective to carry out the release change and the Unicode migration in a single step," says Heinz Ensen, CIO at Flint Group Europe GmbH. "The close cooperation with BASF IT Services and their expert knowledge were of great value to us. This let us avoid a second period of system downtime, saving us both time and money," Ensen continues.

"It was all made possible through meticulous preparation and countless tests in the run-up to the migration. The second important factor was the broad range of experience we've gained in similar projects in the manufacturing and process industries in past years," adds Dr. Ralf Sonnberger, Managing Director at BASF IT Services.

About BASF IT Services:
BASF IT Services, a BASF Group company, is among the leading IT service providers for the process industry in Europe. The company employs some 2,400 employees and recorded an annual turnover of €405 million in 2007. The company’s key strengths are Business Solutions, Managed Services and Business Process Outsourcing. This expertise is based on years of experience in providing solutions to the world’s leading chemical company, BASF. Today, BASF IT Services operates one of the world’s largest networks and approx. 3,600 servers for some 60,000 users in more than 280 locations. The globally active company is committed to standardising and developing customer-orientated, solutions. BASF IT Services is certified under the international quality management standard ISO 9001:2000 and the international standard for information security ISO 27001:2005. More information about BASF IT Services at www.basf-it-services.com.

About Flint Group:
Flint Group is dedicated to serving the global printing and packaging industry with five specialised business units: Flint Group’s ink companies develop and market a wide range of conventional and UV printing inks on a global basis, with regional operations providing local service throughout the world. Flint Group Flexographic Products specialises in photopolymer printing plates, flexographic sleeve systems as well as washout solvents and platemaking equipment. Flint Group Narrow Web is dedicated to the narrow web ink market, including labels, product decoration and package printing. Flint Group Pigments produces a range of pigment products and additives for use in inks and other colourant applications. Day International develops and distributes offset printing blankets and sleeves, pressroom chemicals and diecutting supplies. Headquartered in Luxembourg, Flint Group operates more than 170 facilities worldwide and employs some 8300 people. Revenues for 2007 are € 2.3 billion ($US 3.1 billion), positioning the company as the number one or number two supplier in every major region it serves. For more information, please visit www.flintgrp.com.

BASF IT Services
Jaegerstraße 1
67059 Ludwigshafen
Germany

Press Contact:
Katrin Kanellos
Phone: +49 621 60-58497
E-Mail: katrin.kanellos@basf-it-services.com

This release was published on openPR.